If you were ever a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, you should go see The Visit. It is Shyamalan making a Shyamalan-type film like you remember from his early days, without a bus load of Hollywood executives telling him how to make the movie. This carries with it all the pros and cons that you might expect. The shot composition is top-notch, the actors give a wonderful effort (gangsta rapping tween, aside), the tension is slow-burning and not for the Transformers crowd, and yes, eventually it all collapses into a beautiful mess. But at least it was beautiful.
You cannot compare The Visit to some of Shyamalan's true works of genius, such as Unbreakable, but it may very well be the turning point at which he begins to salvage his reputation. I'm glad I was able to see it, and I want to see more like it, which is a lot more than I could say about his last few films.
Concerning the horror it was quite appealing... throughout most of the movie the horror was somewhat subtle and still powerful, despite lack of blood or anything; love it when it works like that. Towards the ending the scenes got a bit more intense and some of those weren't as great as the rest of the movie but it still didn't spoil the film for me.
The outstanding features of this movie however were for one thing the idea to basically make this movie consist of everything the two kids filmed, which gave the scenes and the movie as a whole a very unique feeling and greatly added to the humour within it - for another thing I was hugely impressed by the two young actors portraying the kids. Outstanding acting, whether the scenes were emotional, scary or funny. Hats off!
Oh yeah, and don't turn it off too soon. Last scene's hilarious :)
Shyamalan returns to the core elements that put his name in the history books 16 years ago. He does an impressive job combining horror and mystery with comedy and melodrama. Once again a blue eyed boy is the star of the show, and that is only one of several significant Shyamalan signatures in the film. You will not be bored.
Much like Lady in the Water with storytelling, Shyamalan now proves to us he knows about film through a pretentious teenage girl making her own doco.
They say you should write what you know but in Shyamalan's case it always sounds like he's stroking his ego or compensating for his insecurities. He doesn't have Stephen King's track record so he should avoid making his protagonists writers or filmmakers in future.
How in the world does this movie rate an 8? It was less than average. Seriously, I've seen a lot of horror films (and also many in the same genre). This movie is week. Why an 8? I need explanation.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 19
Public Enemy
If this film was done by an indie director, everyone would be praising it.God
help us, mom! we saw grandma's ass!Jashezilla
I actually really liked it. A fresh take on the found-footage genre and a change from the cliché horror films we're getting nowadays. Feels like everyone is just hating on it because of who directed it, and I happen to really like M. Night Shyamalan.lachyas
Definitely the best of Shyamalan's recent efforts, but that's a bit like having the best of the STDs. It's still not exactly great.KuroSawWhat
If you were ever a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, you should go see The Visit. It is Shyamalan making a Shyamalan-type film like you remember from his early days, without a bus load of Hollywood executives telling him how to make the movie. This carries with it all the pros and cons that you might expect. The shot composition is top-notch, the actors give a wonderful effort (gangsta rapping tween, aside), the tension is slow-burning and not for the Transformers crowd, and yes, eventually it all collapses into a beautiful mess. But at least it was beautiful.You cannot compare The Visit to some of Shyamalan's true works of genius, such as Unbreakable, but it may very well be the turning point at which he begins to salvage his reputation. I'm glad I was able to see it, and I want to see more like it, which is a lot more than I could say about his last few films.
DukeJules
With good camera angles, quite creepy grandparents and a constant sense of unease I enjoyed this, although,Genuinely entertaining and occasionally frightening.
7.0/10
IreneAdler
Have to say I really enjoyed this one.Concerning the horror it was quite appealing... throughout most of the movie the horror was somewhat subtle and still powerful, despite lack of blood or anything; love it when it works like that. Towards the ending the scenes got a bit more intense and some of those weren't as great as the rest of the movie but it still didn't spoil the film for me.
The outstanding features of this movie however were for one thing the idea to basically make this movie consist of everything the two kids filmed, which gave the scenes and the movie as a whole a very unique feeling and greatly added to the humour within it - for another thing I was hugely impressed by the two young actors portraying the kids. Outstanding acting, whether the scenes were emotional, scary or funny. Hats off!
Oh yeah, and don't turn it off too soon. Last scene's hilarious :)
Galemathias
Shyamalan returns to the core elements that put his name in the history books 16 years ago. He does an impressive job combining horror and mystery with comedy and melodrama. Once again a blue eyed boy is the star of the show, and that is only one of several significant Shyamalan signatures in the film. You will not be bored.marines
The movie was quite interesting, it had some scenes which I was kind of scared....but the ending is week and it doesnt make sense at all.2acoltismypassport
I'd rather have a face full of geriatric diaper than listen to those raps again.Freaky.
sqcat
It was at least considerate of the movie to vocalize exactly what was wrong with it through a terrible freestyle rap at the end.Emiam
7/10shaveen
A descent horror movie with a good storyline.neocowboy
Much like Lady in the Water with storytelling, Shyamalan now proves to us he knows about film through a pretentious teenage girl making her own doco.They say you should write what you know but in Shyamalan's case it always sounds like he's stroking his ego or compensating for his insecurities. He doesn't have Stephen King's track record so he should avoid making his protagonists writers or filmmakers in future.
SleepyMaster
How in the world does this movie rate an 8? It was less than average. Seriously, I've seen a lot of horror films (and also many in the same genre). This movie is week. Why an 8? I need explanation.Showing items 1 – 15 of 19